Live Your Bucket List in 2018

It’s a new year and while losing weight or exercising more might be on your list of resolutions, we suggest you also embrace a more enjoyable goal: Scratching off some items on your bucket list. Have you long wanted to join the circus, dive along a coral reef, or take a deep dive into history? This year, stop dreaming and turn those dreams into reality. At these six all-inclusive (yes, that includes all meals, drinks and select activities) Club Med properties around the world, the unimaginable happens.

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Join the Circus

If you ever dreamed of running away for a life under the big tent, the Club Med Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic will have you flying through the air with the greatest of ease. Thanks to Club Med CREACTIVE by Cirque du Soleil, you’ll not only soar on the trapeze, but also learn acrobatic feats that have wowed Cirque du Soleil audiences—as well as less daring skills from juggling to face painting. If, instead, you feel like your daily life is enough of a circus already, escape to the resort’s Zen Oasis, the adult-exclusive section of the resort. After a treatment at the Club Med Spa by L’Occitane, you can relax around the oversized lagoon pool, perhaps in one of the private cabanas.

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Discover New Life Forms

Have you ever dreamed of exploring an octopus’ garden under the sea, but have been deterred by the need to get your PADI certification? At the Club Med Columbus Isle in the Bahamas, the resort’s instructors will soon have you certified. Your classroom will include some of the 35 different dive spots along the coral reef of the island of San Salvador. You’ll be swimming not only with sharks—both reef and hammer ones—but also turtles, triggerfish, barracuda, and dozens of other species of fish, through a seascape of canyons and coral heads. At the end of the day, return to dry ground in time for a cocktail paired with a stunning sunset at the La Pinta Beach Lounge. It’s fitting to celebrate your day at a lounge named for one of Christopher Columbus’ ships given that, just like him, you spent your day fearlessly exploring a new world.

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Step Back in Time

Christopher Columbus never made it to Mexico, but later Spanish explorers would discover civilizations there that left them in awe, most notably the Aztec and, on the Yucatan Peninsula, the Maya. You may have thought those cultures had vanished completely, but at the Club Med Cancun Yucatan, the excursion desk can arrange for a transfer back in time to some of the most impressive cities of the Maya including Chichen Itza, a UNESCO World Heritage Site that flourished from around 400 to 1400 C.E. On the Riviera Maya, the seaside settlement of Tulum was occupied even after the arrival of the Spanish in the 16th century, and its location overlooking the Caribbean will impress you just as it did the conquistadors. While time has stood still at those sites, it hasn’t at the Club Med. A resort-wide redesign was completed in November 2017, with reimagined pool areas, upgraded rooms, and new dining and wellness experiences.

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Take Flight

Another Mexican resort, the Club Med Ixtapa Pacific on the country’s Pacific Coast offers an opportunity to fly through the air like the local chachalacas, or Mexican tree pheasants. Actually, once your kids take off on the flying trapeze, they will outfly the birds which tend to spend their days hanging out on higher branches of trees and taking only short flights. The trapeze is just one of a number of activities at the resort’s enormous sports school with archery, sailing, and tennis classes offered as well. The sports school does not, however, offer courses in fire eating. If that activity is on your bucket list, opt instead for a delicious and authentic Mexican meal made with fiery chiles. The resort’s four restaurants (one of which is devoted to kids) all serve dishes that showcase the best of local cuisine.

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Achieve Nirvana

For some the route to being truly present in the world consists of hours of meditation or yoga; for others it involves a golf club, a ball, and 18 holes. At the Club Med Sandpiper Bay, located in between Orland and Miami., the golf instructors will help you achieve that perfect balance of concentration and relaxation in which you are aware of every breeze around you and the ball before you as you tee up, breathe in, and swing your club. Practice your new enlightened approach to the sport at Sandpiper Bay’s own 18-hole course or at a number of nearby clubs.

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Stop Time

In our always connected, always on, 24-hour-a-day world where it can feel like emails, texts, and other distractions never stop, simply having time stand still and enjoying the present moment is on many people’s bucket lists. At the Club Med Turkoise, in the Turks & Caicos, you can escape from daily life and its rhythms. The resort unveils a complete redesign in February with new Deluxe rooms and a new pool but some things remain the same. That includes the timeless beauty of Grace Bay which is best admired at Sharkies beachfront bar with a drink in hand, friends by your side, and the sun setting into the sea. If instead you want some solitude, take a stroll along the beach (voted the best in the world by TripAdvisor) where you may spot a dolphin in the bay, welcoming you to the Caribbean.